Update on my Go Daddy trademark problem: Go Daddy is protecting me by exposing me

Yep Go Daddy has officially lost it. They actually think that they are protecting me by keeping a trademark New gTLD domain name, I never bought, active. Are you confused? Read on…

Yesterday I made a post about how Go Daddy bought 2 New gTLD domains that it found in my shopping cart.

Both domain names were trademarked by companies registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse. I didn’t want to buy the 2 domains. I just wanted to test if there are existing trademarks and the only way to do it is try to register the domains, getting the trademark warning and then stopping before paying.

A Go Daddy representative made the mistake and registered the 2 domains. Actually 1 of the domains was a pre-registration so harm done. But the other domain was registered in my name and the mark owner was alerted of the registration as the New gTLD rules require.

Go daddy replied to my support ticket and told me that “the 2 pre-registrations have been refunded”.
The thing is that only 1 was a pre-registration and the other was a REGISTRATION.
I have received the refund email but the domain name canyon.gallery is still registered to me…
I replied saying that I want the domain name canyon.gallery deleted.

(I should also note that my original support ticket was as detailed as it could be.
I explained what was each domain name in my order and gave them instructions on what to do (or not do) for each domain name separately. It seems that support can’t follow simple instructions…)

I then got this message from Go Daddy support:

Thank you for contacting support. I am a member of our Advanced Technical Support team and appreciate you contacting us regarding cancellation of domain.  We have addressed the issue accordingly and it is resolved at this time.

But the domain name is still registered to me.

I replied once again that the domain is registered and I want it deleted. I got this reply:

Due to its complex nature, your issue has been relayed to our Advanced Technical Support Team. Our most skilled technicians will be working to resolve your issue quickly and completely. You will be notified promptly upon resolution.

Whatever… It was the “Advanced” technical support that said that my issue was resolved. I guess they now need the “more” “advanced” technical support.

And here is the reply of the year:

Dear Konstantinos Zournas, Thank you for contacting GoDaddy Aftermarket support. I have reviewed your account, canyon.gallery was deleted from your account yesterday. The whois will still show your contact information for 5 days, in the event this cancelation was a mistake. After the 5 days the name will be dropped back to the registry. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.

So they will protect me in case the cancellation for a domain name I never bought was a mistake. And by protecting me they will expose me to all types of potential legal problems.

Thanks Go Daddy!!!

But what if the registration was your mistake???

You know I sometimes feel bad for bashing Go Daddy but at times like this I think they deserve it. They sure do.

So the domain name will be registered to me for almost 7 days before it is deleted. It took IBM just a few days to file for the URS complaint against IBM.guru and win.

Guess what is going to happen if I get a URS or UDRP complaint about this domain I DID NOT register…

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

18 comments

  1. To be honest, the more you blog about it, the worse it appears to be. The tm warnings are moot when the keyword+gTLD clearly reference a different class. For example, the canyon.bike registration *was* a tm violation, as Canyon Bikes is a company. But Canyon.gallery can be a web site with canyon/Grand Canyon photos by enthusiasts.

  2. Every popular keyword seems to have a TM warning on it. Godaddy senior rep should have changed whois info to Godaddy, and stricken your name from the record, before they deleted it, so your name would not be hanging there during that process. I as a domainer know this, but godaddy is unable to retain talent. I saw my last account rep works at media options now, and seems every 6 months I get a new one.

    Their cutomer service support is out to lunch. You can ask them a technical question, they will respond with some automated response on how to register a domain. Then expect you to fill out a survey at the end of it. They are just making to much money right now to give a damn.

    Wait for unregistry to startup, and move your domains over there, they should have the complete solution for majority of domainers.

  3. C’mon Godaddy!!!!! …Where is the Godaddy social media team now?…….Stand up, lets talk……I’m your huckleberry!

  4. When i see what GD ” Advanced Technical Support ” replies to my tickets when a case is not so usual i realize that they have same connection with domains as i have with cooking (i know to make only toasts and eggs)

    • Manos, I don’t think that their “not so advanced” technical support does anything else than quote a few lines from the FAQ.

      • it is off topic but lately i had transfer there a name that was about to expire in 3 months and they did not add the year for the transfer. Advanced super award winning technical support wrote “We can confirm that one year added”. And still WHOIS had expiration date in 3 months. They added the year after 10 or so emails

      • That sounds really crazy. Never heard of a registrar that does that.
        But I wouldn’t know about this particular godaddy “feature”.
        I don’t ever transfer in! 🙂

      • Look every registrar has some plus, gd has the very low .com transfers with coupons, good renewals at some cctlds , the tdnam etc etc so everyone has to have an account there. But their support is very low comparing to godaddy’sname and reputation.

  5. Konstantinos still not final reply for your case?
    Is there any chance a domain to be deleted during the 7 first days of GA?

  6. How many godaddy employees does it take to change a bulb ?

  7. not all registrars have same policy, some do not allow grace deletions at any tld even if ICANN allows.
    At dynadot is easy via their control panel, no need to contact support at all.

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